PNP, MMDA to help apprehend drunk drivers starting January 2018

Traffic enforcement personnel of the police and the Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA) will help the Land Transportation Office (LTO) apprehend motorists suspected to be driving under the influence of alcohol starting the new year, according to a report on Unang Balita on Thursday.

The Philippine National Police (PNP) and the MMDA will assist the LTO in strengthening its implementation of anti-drunk driving rules following data that says more than 1,000 road accidents occurred with a drunk driver behind the wheel from January to October this year.

Three hundred officers have undergone training on how to conduct sobriety tests, which can be aided by the use of breathalyzers, 600 of which have been distributed to the PNP and the MMDA.

The Anti-Drunk and Drugged Driving Act of 2013 was approved on May 27, 2013.

It explicitly states that the LTO may deputize traffic enforcers with the PNP, MMDA, and cities and municipalities to implement the provisions of the law.

Under this law, driving under the influence of alcohol, dangerous drugs, or other similar substances is punishable by a fine of P20,000 to P80,000 and three-month imprisonment when no physical injury is caused.

When physical injury results from drunk and drugged driving, the penalties naturally get steeper: the fine is between P100,000 to P200,000, and imprisonment in accordance with Article 263 of the Revised Penal Code, depending on the graveness of the injury.

Homicide due to drunk and drugged driving, on the other hand, amounts to reclusion temporal, or imprisonment of 12 to 20 years, and a fine of P300,000 to P500,000.

A non-professional driver’s license is up for a 12-month confiscation and suspension on first conviction and perpetual revocation under the second. A professional license, meanwhile, is perpetually revoked under the first conviction.

“The perpetual revocation of a driver’s license shall disqualify the person from being granted any kind of driver’s license thereafter,” says the law. —Nicole-Anne C. Lagrimas/KG, GMA News